“占领运动”走向成熟

2011年底，“占领运动”成为各方关注的焦点。美国民众，尤其是年轻人，进行大规模抗议的情形，在越战之后已极为少见。

占领运动最初从曼哈顿下城区开始，并迅速蔓延到美国各大城市和全世界，被普遍认为是政治运动的雏形。《时代》杂志（Time）（《财富》杂志（Fortune）的姊妹刊物）将“占领华尔街”运动的抗议者和阿拉伯世界的抗议者，提名为2011年的“年度人物”。

但在警方对占领运动的驻扎地采取一系列行动（最知名的是警方驱散曼哈顿下城区祖科蒂公园的抗议者）之后，运动基本以失败告终。“占领运动”的联合发起人之一迈卡•怀特也承认，从很多方面来看，运动最终迎来的是失败的结局。

但占领运动的精神并未消失。

本周二，一个名为“占领华尔街”（Take on Wall Street ）的组织在华盛顿宣布，将发起一项运动，旨在限制金融部门对政治进程与经济的影响，这一目标与占领运动非常相似。但占领运动基本上是一次草根运动，而“占领华尔街”背后有机构和财力支持。据《华盛顿邮报》（The Washington Post）报道，美国劳工总会及产业劳工组织（AFL-CIO）以及美国教师联合会（American Federation of Teachers）均参与其中。

严格意义上来说，“占领华尔街”不属于抗议运动。美国劳工总会及产业劳工组织主席理查德•杜姆卡对《华盛顿邮报》表示：“我们要将其变成国会选举的一个议题。没有人能够回避这个问题。”

转向选举是聪明的举动。佛蒙特州议员伯尼•桑德斯在民主党初选中的成功，以及在一定程度上，唐纳德•特朗普的成功，均证明占领运动的基本信息（金融和政治体系被1%的人操纵）在过去五年已经有大量支持者。

事实上，上世纪60年代因参与地下气象（Weather Underground）组织而知名的激进主义者比尔•艾瑞斯告诉《财富》杂志，他认为当前民粹政治的突然崛起，正是起源于祖科蒂公园。艾瑞斯表示：“如果没有占领运动，伯尼•桑德斯不可能有今天的成功。”

桑德斯竞选总统提名的许多草根支持者，均与占领运动有关联。彭博社（Bloomberg）今年早些时候的报告显示，在线活动组织People for Bernie的联合创始人温妮•王，全程参加了在祖科蒂公园的扎营抗议活动。而《卫报》（The Guardian）报道，创立“African-Americans for Bernie”的斯坦•威廉姆斯，也是占领运动的参与者。

受占领运动影响的左翼仍要克服许多障碍——伯尼•桑德斯尽管在初选中有令人意料的出色表现，但在民主党提名之争中，他仍有可能败给希拉里•克林顿。不过，与右翼的茶党类似，奉行进步主义的左翼力量，似乎已准备好在民主党内部发挥影响力。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

In late 2011, the Occupy movement was front and center. Americans, especially young people, were protesting in numbers that had scarcely been seen since the Vietnam War era.

The movement, which started in lower Manhattan but spread to cities all over the U.S. and the world, was considered a potentially seminal political moment. Along with protesters in the Arab world,Time (Fortune’s sister publication) named “The Protester” as its “Person of the Year” in 2011.

But following a series of police actions on Occupy encampments — most notably the dispersal of protesters from lower Manhattan’s Zucotti Park — the movement mostly fizzled. Micah White, one of the co-creators of the Occupy Movement, has admitted it was in may ways a failure.

But the spirit of Occupy lives on.

On Tuesday in Washington, a group called Take on Wall Street announced that it was launching a new campaign focused on limiting the power the financial sector exerts over the political process and the economy—very similar goals to the Occupy movement. Unlike Occupy, though, which was almost entirely a grassroots movement, Take on Wall Street has institutional and financial heft behind it. Groups like The AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers are both involved,reports The Washington Post.

Take on Wall Street isn’t strictly a protest movement. “We are going to make this an issue in congressional races. No one will be able to run from this,” said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, to the Post.

Turning to elections could be a prudent move. The success of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary race and, to a lesser extent, Donald Trump suggests that Occupy’s fundamental message—that the financial and political system is rigged in favor of the 1%—has gained ground over the past five years.

Indeed, Bill Ayers, the 1960s radical best known for his involvement in the Weather Underground, toldFortune that he believes the current surge of populist politics goes right back to Zucotti Park. “Bernie Sanders would not be where he is without Occupy,” Ayers says.

Some of the grassroots supporters behind Sanders’ bid for the presidential nomination have ties to Occupy. Winnie Wong, co-founder of online activist group People for Bernie, was in Zucotti Park for the entirety of the encampment, according to aBloomberg story from earlier this year. Stan Williams was an Occupier before he founded African-Americans for Bernie, reports The Guardian.

The Occupy-influenced left still has lot of hurdles to jump over—Bernie Sanders may have done surprisingly well in the primaries, but he is still on track to lose the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton. But, much like the Tea Party on the right, the progressive left seems poised to throw its weight around within the Democratic Party.